By Zeng Xiaoguang

At present, the intelligent development of ships has become an inevitable trend. There are also many researches on smart ships launched at home and abroad. Many of the studies are aimed at building new ships in the future. However,the number of existing ships on the market is huge, and how to upgrade existing ships is also very important.

From a technical point of view, the main task of the current intelligent upgrading of existing ships is to upgrade and reform based on automation and informatization. Automation is mainly the automation of equipment or systems on ships. In this regard, with the continuous development of equipment automation technology on ships, existing ships already have certain foundations, and future upgrades are mainly the replacement or upgrading of some equipment or systems. Therefore, the informatization of ships is the key to the intelligent upgrading of existing ships. The informatization upgrade of existing ships is of great signif cance for improving the safety of ships, reducing operating costs, and meeting the future intelligent operation.

The first aspect involved in upgrading or renovating existing ships is to solve the informatization problem at the equipment level. At present, much work has been done on equipment informationization, and there are now more products and technologies available for existing ships. For example, the concept of “Virtual Engineering” proposed by W?rtsil?, the core of which is to use big data technology and advanced data analysis methods to improve the full life cycle performance of the equipment and to reduce operation and maintenance costs. In 2015, W?rtsil? and Golar Management(Oslo, Norway) signed a five-year long technology management agreement to provide service for the Golar LNG fleet. This service agreement includes remote engine monitoring, maintenance plans, consulting services, personnel training and spare parts.

The second aspect involved in information upgrading or transforming of existing ships is to solve the problem of information interconnection and interoperabilityacross the entire ship. If only the equipment realizes informationization and the problem of information interconnection and intercommunication of the entire ship is not solved, then the whole ship will be an isolated island of information, unable to fuse and analyze data information, or truly use the value of data information. In this regard, the key work is the development and application of a ship-wide information integration platform. At present, there are already some products and technology development work underway,and relevant results can be applied to existing ships. For example, e-Navigation promoted by the International Maritime Organization is a ship information integration platform. On this platform, the AIS, ECDIS, IBS,integrated navigation Systems (INS), Automatic Radar Arrangement (ARPA), Radio and Satellite Navigation Systems, Ship Remote Identification and Tracking(LRIT), Vessel Traffic Management System (VTS),Wireless Digital Data Communication Network and Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)will be integrated.

In addition, in the long run, if existing ships are to realize intelligent operation, real-time ship-shore communication and shore-based construction are also indispensable. Although this content is not very closely connected to the ship's own intelligent upgrading, it is indispensable to realize autonomous navigation and other functions in the future. In this regard, a large number of meaningful explorations have been conducted by many European companies and institutions. For example, the European Space Agency (ESA) led the completion of the discussion and formulation of the technical characteristics of most of the satellites in the VHF data exchange system in recent years and promoted maritime communications technology development. Rolls-Royce opened a cutting-edge technology research facility to develop the autonomous ship-related technologies needed by Rolls-Royce and its partners in Turku, Finland, which has already officially started running on January 25,2018. The new R&D center enables Rolls-Royce and its partners to concentrate their efforts on the development of autonomous ships and the development of land-based control centers.

Finally, the writer would like to emphasize that the current intelligent upgrading of ships must be carried out under the premise of satisfying economic rationality.The current stage is focused on the upgrading of ship information, and it is most important to realize the interconnection of all ship information. With information, there is data. With data, we can optimize shipping routes, manage ship energy efficiency, and provide early warning of ship equipment, so as to improve the safety and economy of ship operations and bring operators revenues, making them willing and motivated to intelligently upgrade existing ships.